Archive for April, 2008

Great Gameloft Giveaway: Week One Winner
Congratulations to Vlart, our first winner in the Great Gameloft Giveaway! Be sure to enter yourself for your chance at a new Nokia device, a stylish N-Gage backpack, and other great prizes.

Brain Challenge Review
Pocket Gamer gives their noggins a workout with this review of Brain Challenge.  Read the whole thing here.

Another Music Store
Nokia’s keeping it busy with the other services too. This time, we’ve opened another music store, this one in Singapore.

Mobile Game FAQs takes a look at the commercial launch version of Space Impact Kappa Base in this new review. They like the game for the most part and give it a score of 86%.

They also note that the version currently available has had some major improvements since the version released during N-Gage First Access:

Unlike some of the other First Access titles, Space Impact has slightly changed. The background graphics appear far more detailed and crisp and it seems to play a little faster (the shots from the yellow bee-like enemies seem quicker if nothing else). It seems that the first couple of levels have had the most re-working but things soon fall back into place after that.

Read the full review here. And for more on Space Impact, don’t forget to check out this peculiar blog from Space Impact researcher Dr. Mordecai Egan.

Hello gamers, it’s a beautiful day for play, and for rounding up N-Gage news.

• First up the “official” N-Gage news. I have received a mysterious tip that a certain Dr. Mordecai Egan has quite an extensive blog regarding alien abductions and visitations. Normally such matters are handled by Nokia’s Crashed Saucer Recovery Unit, and not the N-Gage Blog, but I’m told the man is associated with the Space Impact project in some manner, so perhaps this requires further investigation on your part.

• In other news, The Great Gameloft Giveaway is still in full swing this week, so jump on in and play a Gameloft game for your chance to enter fantastic prizes. Operators are standing by.

• Next up, Tzer2 on All About N-Gage has posted up some N-Gage related videos, including the Human Snake viral, the Making of the Human Snake Viral, and what looks like (and I’m only guessing, first time I’ve seen it) an N-Gage tribute from our test department.

• All About Symbian wants to know what N-Gage games you’re looking forward to, so they have a new poll up. With close to 200 votes already in, Star Wars and ONE are in the lead. No sign of Project White Rock on the list, although it will be unveiled at a press event this Friday.

• Symbian Guru has posted a two-piece post about Nokia, the N95, and some of its competitors: “What are the next challenges for Nokia? Software, software, software, that is the first and biggest challenge.” Check out parts I & II here.

• And finally, N-Gation has posted up its review of Electronic Arts’ Tetris for the N-Gage platform, nothing: “My first impressions for the game were great nother Tetris game? Soon as that downloaded and installed – My mind was completely changed. It’s a fantastic game.”  

Fast and furious, here we go… 

• Tzer2 over at All About N-Gage has put up a new editorial about the full potential of N-Gage. I thought that this was a good article because it serves as a reminder that we are still in the early stages of N-Gage, with only a handful of games as of yet, and no devices with the application pre-installed. Read the rest here.

• Andrew Podolsky over at 1up.com has posted his first impressions of the new N-Gage platform. He notes: “However, the N-Gage is clearly attempting to become the new standard-bearer for mobile gaming, and from what we’ve seen and played, we’re hopeful that it will find an audience this time around.” Have a read.

• And finally, I’ve been tipped off about a new blog (new to me, at least) covering the N-Gage scence. Called N-Gation, it’s put together by hOAx, whos is tossing up videos, reviews, and previews of N-Gage games as fast as he can get his hands on ‘em. Looks like good stuff so far, go ahead and give it a click.

Here are his reviews so far:

• Asphalt 3
• Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep
• System Rush: Evolution
• Brain Challenge
• FIFA 2008
• Space Impact Kappa Base

Have a great weekend everybody!

Good morning N-Gage fans, it’s a beautiful day  here in San Francisco and what better way to start the day than to celebrate the release of not one but two more games for the N-Gage platform.

Block Breaker Deluxe

Block Breaker Deluxe is a classic and well-known arcade brick-breaker game revisited in a hyper-trendy graphic style with a fun and original atmosphere and a catchy storyline.

Tetris

Tetris is on N-Gage! Block your opponent’s efforts to clear lines. Race a two-minute clock in Ultra mode and try Forty Line mode, clearing 40 lines as fast as you can. With great new play modes including Clash and Challenge, Tetris takes mobile fun to the next level.

Both games should now be available on both the N-Gage application and on our website Showroom. If you don’t see them on the web immediately, try clearing your browser cache.

Have you played the free trials yet? What do you think?

• Ewan Spence over at All About N-Gage takes a look at recent reviews of FIFA 2008, then wades into the discussion on how Nokia should be marketing its games via free offers. He feels Nokia should be giving away Snakes Subsonic.

• Meanwhile Stuart Dredge over at Pocket Gamer takes aim at the issue of global leader boards, bemoaning the fact that pretty soon people better than you blow you off the boards. He suggest the future is local rankings.

• Definitely not N-Gage related, but for those of you Francophones with Nseries devices, we have just opened the Nokia Music Store in France.
 

It appears 1up.com’s Andrew Podolsky has received an invitation to the unveiling of Project White Rock, the code-name for the as-yet still unrevealed game being developed by RedLynx and Pocket Kingdom producer Scott Foe. Part of the invitation is shown below:

Podolsky notes that the For the Love of Gaming site features classic videogame trivia and chiptunes by 8-Bit Weapon. He further adds:

“The image appears to consist of parody versions of game characters, including Mario, Lara Croft, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Bomberman. The image was sent as part of an invitation for the official unveiling of the game in early May.”

What do you think? Is he on the right track? Who are the silhoutte characters? What do all these clues suggest about the game itself? Let the speculation begin!

I just got the good word from the Boys in Vancouver that the Space Impact Kappa Base website has gone live!

Pound this link for tons of new gameplay footage, free wallapers, new screenshots, and tons more goodies … including a crazy guy digging a hole and rambling about space aliens.

I kid you not.

All About N-Gage have just posted their take on EA SPORTS™ FIFA 08, the first football game for the next generation N-Gage platform. Ewan Spence writes:

“The look of the game is wonderful – all the players may be small, but they are crisp, you can make out where they’re going or trying to do – you can even watch them loose balance on a slipping pitch!”

Read the entire review here, and for those of you in select European countries, don’t forget to take of this special offer to get a complimentary copy of the game for installing the N-Gage application.

Nokia N82, a winner is you! From the official release:

Nokia today announced that the Nokia N82 multimedia computer has been awarded the ‘Best Mobile Imaging Device in Europe 2008′ by TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) - Europe’s largest photo and imaging press association.
 
“The Nokia N82 is a compact multimedia computer that integrates GPS, web, video and music functions around a 5 Megapixel camera with a high-speed, f/2.8 autofocus lens,” the TIPA jurors said. “This Carl Zeiss Tessar focuses from 10cm to infinity and produces sharp prints up to and beyond A4 size. Several scene modes are also available to optimize the Nokia N82 for great images, whether shooting portraits or night shots,” TIPA continued. Other Nokia N82 features highlighted by the jurors are the Xenon flash and 20X digital zoom.”

The N82 of course is an N-Gage compatible device, something the judges surely did not overlook in their careful deliberations. To learn more about this device, visit the N82 page.